State Rep. Gary Glenn of Bay County (left) lost a Republican Senate primary on Aug. 7 after a so-called “dark money” group linked to Consumers Energy Co. spent heavily to defeat him. Rep. Tom Barrett of Eaton County prevailed in his Senate primary after two groups backed by Consumers and DTE Energy Co. advertised against him.

State Rep. Gary Glenn has been a thorn in the side of Consumers Energy Co. and DTE Energy Co. for the past four years, advocating for weakening their electricity monopolies and routinely lobbing rhetorical bombs at the state's largest utility companies.

His most over-the-top and incendiary broadside came earlier this year came when he called Consumers Energy officials "terrorists" for threatening to lobby against a bill that would have given electricity rate relief for his district's biggest corporation, Dow Chemical Co. of Midland, if he didn't stop bad-mouthing the company.

"What I'd like to do is shoot the terrorists," Glenn said. "But I am not willing to shoot through the hostages to hit the terrorists."

Evoking violence against the Jackson-based utility may have contributed to Glenn's defeat in this month's primary election for a state Senate district in Bay City and the Thumb-area.

But picking a fight with a powerful entity like Consumers Energy also probably didn't help Glenn's chances against former state Rep. Kevin Daley, who defeated Glenn by 5,300 votes.

Daley was aided by a mystery organization linked to Consumers Energy that swooped into the 31st Senate District and unloaded a barrage of negative television, radio and mail advertising about Glenn.

Faithful Conservatives of Michigan spent $263,000 on broadcast television advertisements casting Daley in a favorable light and criticizing Glenn, according to the ad-tracking data from Kantar Media/CMAG analyzed by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.

The group shares an address, attorney and media buyer with another group bankrolled by Consumers, Citizens for Energizing Michigan's Economy (CEME), which received $20 million from Consumers in 2017, according to a public disclosure.

Unlike registered political action committees, Faithful Conservatives of Michigan doesn't have to report a dime of where its money came from or how much it spent disparaging Glenn and promoting Daley. The state Bureau of Elections dismissed a complaint against the group because their ads did not expressly urge the defeat of Glenn.

Glenn suspects Consumers Energy bankrolled the entire "dark money" campaign against him, using CEME to funnel money to the Faithful Conservatives of Michigan group. Both groups share the same lawyer — Okemos attorney Eric Doster, who is regarded as one of the foremost experts in campaign finance law in Michigan.

The one piece of evidence that the two groups are one-and-the-same is their media buyer withdrew a TV ad in the Daley-Glenn race that was paid for by CEME and used Faithful Conservatives of Michigan to pay for it instead, according to public records.

But we have no real way of knowing who's pulling the strings here — and Consumers Energy can claim plausible deniability in the defeat of one of its most bombastic critics in the Legislature.

"We have no control over those funds," Consumers Energy spokeswoman Katie Carey said. "We contribute to that group, Citizens for Energizing Michigan's Economy, because we support their mission to promote energy policy for Michigan that we feel is in the best interests of our customers."

In this era of deep distrust in institutions, the legal use of front groups to influence elections with untraceable cash has become an attractive vehicle for wealthy individuals and corporations to exercise their First Amendment right to anonymous political speech.

Across the state, untraceable "dark money" was a major source of influence in primaries on Aug. 7, many of which effectively decide the next state representative or senator because a particular district is firmly in either the Republican or Democratic column.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Schuette benefited from $1.2 million in TV ads in the GOP primary from untraceable donors. His Democratic rival, Gretchen Whitmer, also was aided by $550,000 in hard-to-trace cash.

Thanks to Lansing, this state has two ways to influence elections: through a transparent system of disclosing donors or by funneling money to a not-for-profit organization that then conceals the original source under the cover of its "social welfare" mission and spends freely without an ounce of accountability.

Citizens for Energizing Michigan's Economy, the Consumers-backed group, was active in six primaries this summer, which is unusually high compared to past primary elections, said Craig Mauger, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.

"Campaign finance is definitely evolving and the role of these outside groups is expanding exponentially," Mauger said.

CEME played an active role in influencing Republican primaries in the 19th Senate District in Barry, Ionia and Calhoun counties; the 24th Senate District in mid-Michigan; the 26th Senate District in Allegan, Kent and Van Buren counties; the 63rd House District in Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties; the Jackson-area 65th House District; and the 93rd House District in Clinton and Gratiot counties.

In the 24th District GOP primary, the group started airing radio ads in May in suburban Lansing that promoted the conservative credentials of state Rep. Brett Roberts over Rep. Tom Barrett, a member of the House Energy Committee who voted against the most recent changes to state energy policy that DTE and Consumers wanted.

Barrett estimates Citizens for Energizing Michigan's Economy and a DTE-backed group called the Alliance for Michigan Power (which also is registered at Doster's Okemos law firm) spent a combined $250,000 or more trying to defeat him in the Aug. 7 primary.

He argues the utility companies have "weaponized" ratepayer funds against any legislator who "questions their assertions." The Consumers spokeswoman said its donated funds to CEME come from money shareholders invested in the utility company, not customers' monthly bills.

But unlike Glenn, Barrett didn't call one of the utility companies a terrorist organization. Barrett contends he just did his job, representing the interests of his Eaton County constituents.

"I've been respectful and diplomatic toward them — and it doesn't matter," Barrett said of DTE and Consumers. "It's not that they want conversation or collaboration. They want the outcomes that protect their position in Michigan. And anything short of that, they're willing to go to the mattress to defeat you in an election."